


One Dance, Please?

by talonyth



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Gen, I'm Still Bad At Tagging, Random & Short, byleth is a hypocrite, fun and shenanigans, he's the wildest of them all, the lions really don't want to dance though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 13:08:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20528546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talonyth/pseuds/talonyth
Summary: It's Ethereal Moon and the White Heron Cup is not far - but the Eisner twins are each set on getting the victory for their respective house. Can Byleth convince his rowdy bunch of students to behave for once in their wild lives? Can he defeat his sister and break her winning streak? Sword fights, intrigues and plot twists await you in this adventurous ride!





	One Dance, Please?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [galforce (boxofwonder)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/boxofwonder/gifts).

> in this, byleth loves dancing and wants his students to enjoy it too. he also loves a friendly competiton (and often overdoes it whoops). lilith, his twin sister, is courtesy of my bff who picked the eagles first. we came up with a lot of headcanons and them being continuously competitive over the smallest things is one of them. 
> 
> i hope you'll have fun with this!

When the cold of the Ethereal Moon hit, Byleth figured the students would be in worse spirits. With everything that had happened around the monastery as of late, the tension had been palpable even if everyone tried to keep up the usual rhythm. 

That was why it surprised him when there was excited chattering instead of hushed whispers as he walked over the campus. Even the greetings were fueled with more… delight than usual so he couldn’t help but wonder if there was an event he might have missed. Something good must have happened, that much was certain. 

It was only when he joined the faculty meeting that he found out why. 

“The White Heron Cup?” he asked, glancing at his sister over the table. Lilith shrugged softly, no one apparently noticing. So he wasn’t the only one who never heard of this before. 

“Oh, Professor, will you tell me you have never heard of this?” Manuela chirped in delight. “You did only join this year, after all, the two of you… I hope you know how to dance.” She winked. 

Byleth sat up a little straighter. 

“That is correct. It is an event in which you will choose one of your students to represent your house in a dancing competition. It is in preparation for the annual ball at the end of this month - although we must not neglect the monthly assignments in favour of this, of course,” Rhea explained. She smiled when she added, “But a little joy is quite necessary for the students to regain their spirits after the events of the last months.”

As if prompted, both Byleth and Lilith leant over the table. “A competition?”

Rhea regarded them both. “Very much so. Only one student of your houses may compete. There will be a jury to judge the three chosen students and the one who performs best will be allowed to partake in a special form of training that combines dance with magic as well as blade techniques. Certainly, that will be motivation enough even for those who are not prone to dance alone.” 

Byleth went through his class roster. He could at about imagine the reactions of the Lions to these kinds of news. But perhaps he could bait them with the same words as Rhea. It would at the very least help with the more difficult cases like Felix. Or… well, nearly everyone, aside from Annette who loved song and dance dearly. 

“That is to say, you are welcome to practice with all your students and give the information who you have chosen to Manuela at the end of next week.”

Manuela smiled wide, getting to her feet. “Let’s make sure all students will perform to their best abilities! They are much encouraged to polish their dance skills for the ball. After all, it is such a good chance for them to bond with someone they might have feelings for… Believe me, students burn for these kinds of scenarios.”

“As do you, Manuela,” Hanneman sighed. “Must everything have connotations for you?” 

“Oh, be quiet.” Manuela crossed her arms. “You simply don’t understand how young hearts work anymore. All they can think of is how to impress their crushes and if experience has taught me anything, it is all they will work for as well!”

Leaving both to bicker on their own, Seteth explained the monthly assignment to Byleth and Lilith (with a rather clear mention of not choosing Flayn as either of their representative) and handed them a list of tasks to finish. 

“A competition,” Byleth muttered as they walked outside. “A dancing competition, huh.”

“I hope you are aware that the Eagles are comprised of a number of students with poise, grace and elegance,” Lilith noted. “That is to say, I wish you best of luck, brother, but you will lose.”

“Is that so.” Byleth huffed. 

“I mean…”

His sister came to a halt and it took him a moment to realize what she was trying to show him. 

Those sure were Dimitri and Felix, practicing outside the training grounds, growling at each other while Annette and Mercedes cheered them on with Ashe joining in to clap excitedly. Ingrid was whistling louder than Byleth was aware to be possible, Dedue was quietly assessing the situation while Sylvain was, well, he could see him. He didn’t want to know what he was up to, though. There were more students, certainly but whenever there was a ruckus, it was either one of the Lions fighting or one of the Deer pranking. Sometimes, it was both at once. 

“You cannot deny their form is flawless though,” Byleth shrugged. 

“For fighters. Not for dancers.” Lilith clapped his back with more force than necessary. “Don’t be sad, brother. We all lose one day. Well, _you_ do.” 

He swore he could hear her laugh as she walked into the Eagles classroom. If she had tried to taunt him, _worked._

With a clap of his hands, Byleth stomped in between Dimitri and Felix, deflecting the blow of a sword and grabbing the wooden blade to knock the training lance out of Dimitri’s hands. 

“Enough!”

The crowd went absolutely quiet for a minute before they burst into even louder cheers.

Good goddess. 

“Professor, where did you come from?” Dimitri asked, genuinely surprised whereas Felix only huffed, his eyes narrowed. Byleth tossed both their weapons to the ground and crossed his arms. 

“I will tell you where I came from. I was at the faculty meeting a moment ago and now I see you two brawling like two animals in the middle of the campus!”

“We weren’t brawling, though,” Felix noted, picking his sword up. “We had weapons.”

“Which makes this worse, truly.” Byleth rubbed a palm over his face. Maybe he shouldn’t let his sister get to him as much but to be challenged like that… he couldn’t stay idle. Otherwise he would have, perhaps, considered rating their little fight instead but this was no conduct for this month. 

“Professor, I am sorry. We didn’t mean to upset you-” Dimitri started but Byleth shook his head, waving the other students away. 

“Disperse, each to your classrooms now,” he said, pointing at the Lions. “Aside from you all. We need to have a talk. You, too, Sylvain! Don’t think I don’t see you, simply because you artfully hide behind a stone pillar.”

“Aw.” Sylvain sighed but along with the others, he trotted into their little circle, waving a girl goodbye. They all avoided looking at him too closely, which was not the first time but he certainly managed to embarrass them properly for a start. 

Good. 

For this month, at least, he needed them to focus. On winning. On absolutely crushing Lilith. 

“Professor-”

“Don’t.” Byleth raised an eyebrow. 

“Since when did he turn into Seteth?” Sylvain whispered to Annette who only shrugged, Mercedes chuckling slightly. 

“Perhaps I wouldn’t have to act like Seteth if you could behave for one moment. I take my eyes off you for _one moment_, and you embarrass me in front of my sister.”

A collective ‘Oh’ went through the circle of Lions. 

“Don’t ‘Ohhh’ me. You lot need to be on your best behaviour this month.”

“I don’t get it,” Felix said. “So far, you would praise us for initiating training sessions. We are clearly the strongest class. Isn’t that the whole point?”

“Yes but I need you to be the most elegant class this month.”

They all looked at him in confusion. Aside from Annette, as expected, and Mercedes who smiled as always. Then, it seemed to dawn on them, and as collectively as they were puzzled, they suddenly found everything more interesting to look at than Byleth himself. 

“The White Heron Cup is this month!” Annette exclaimed as if it wasn’t clear to everyone involved yet. She liked to drive it in without realizing, and that was terrifying in its own regard. “And the Ball! Professor, if you want to, I am volunteering as our representative.”

“Oh, Annette,” Dimitri sighed in relief with a smile. “You are truly saving us.”

“No, she is not.” Byleth narrowed his eyes. “I appreciate your offer, Annette, and I will come back to it but that does not exempt you chaotic lot to behave like wild animals or sit in the corner at the ball. Yes, Felix, I know you plan on doing so.” 

“That- I-” Felix bristled. “Not true. I was not going to attend.”

“I will drag you out of your room.” 

“Try me.”

Byleth kicked the lance up from the ground, tip at Felix’ neck before Felix raised his sword for a swing. 

“Professor!” Seteth’s voice boomed through the courtyard. “What in the world do you think you are doing?”

Byleth froze. Why did this keep happening to him?

“Being a good role model there, Professor,” Felix sneered. “We’re only ever following your grand example.”

“I am trying to teach a lesson, Seteth,” Byleth exclaimed but he could hear the stomps. Sylvain hadn’t been wrong. He had acted quite as Seteth before, to the point that he felt just as humiliated having been caught by the man himself.

“Take such things to the training grounds in the future,” Seteth said, grabbing the lance from Byleth’s hands and collecting the sword from Felix for good measure as well. 

He left as quickly as he came, without stating what he even wanted. Byleth figured he might have a sensor when someone misbehaved because Seteth always happened to be right where it was chaotic. 

Byleth glanced into the group to see a variety of reactions from biting their lower lip to keep in their laughter (Ingrid and Annette) to smug grins (Felix and Sylvain) to understanding smiles (Ashe and Mercedes) but the top two worst were Dedue’s silent judgment and Dimitri’s shake of his head. 

“Professor, you know I side with you, always,” he said, “But I will say that you invited this by not simply accepting Annette’s offer.”

“Truly, Dimitri? You believe this is the goddess’ punishment for trying to tame you all?”

“Well, you can’t tame a group if you’re wild yourself,” Sylvain noted, and with a wink added (Byleth wished he hadn’t), “Trust me, I know.”

“Oh for the love of the goddess, be quiet, Sylvain.” Ingrid huffed. “Though, I am sorry, Professor. I do kind of agree with His Highness. We love you dearly, and we can all agree that you are the best teacher for us. But that’s… because, well, you never expected us to be anything different than we are.”

“I see what you are all trying to do, and I commend your willingness to work as a tightly knit team to avoid dance practice,” Byleth nodded, “But you are not going to escape from it.”

“Damn it,” Felix grumbled. “You all should have tried harder.”

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have picked a fight with the professor, we had our lines rather clearly written out,” Ingrid hissed back. 

“Oh, did you now.” Byleth looked around as it dawned on him. “You all plotted this.” 

“No, not exactly plotted,” Ashe noted quietly. “It was just an emergency plan.”

“You planned to use my weakness for all of you against me.” Byleth gasped, perhaps a little more theatrically than necessary. 

And it worked.

They looked terribly guilty, all eyes downcast. 

Byleth sighed. This was not how it was supposed to go. It was supposed to prepare them for a fun evening. They had all been stressed and worried, and even if Lilith’s words did nag at him, most of all, he wanted them to be able to wind down. Even if it was just for one evening. 

“First of all, I am impressed that you all worked together - even if it was against me - in order to stage all this.”

“We figured you and Professor Lilith would challenge each other,” Felix shrugged. “You are like us after all.” 

“Devious. Impressive. I am also hurt. But mostly impressed. Anyway, it is half a truth that I need you to behave a little more orderly. I do get a lot of complaints that you get out of hand at times.”

“Is it Seteth?” Sylvain asked. 

“Yes but also no. It is the general consensus that you run wilder than you should at times. That is to say… you aren’t wrong. I do like that about all of you. By the way, the most complaints go to Sylvain and surprisingly, Mercedes.” 

“Oh, me?” Mercedes hummed, tilting her head. “Is that so?” 

“You’re causing a general panic of the students with your stories and rumours about ghosts.”

Mercedes only giggled. “But Professor, they are not rumours. Those things-”

“Stop! Stop stop stop!” Annette shrieked, Ashe pale next to her. “No more, Mercie! I don’t want to think about that anymore!”

“Well,” Dimitri said, clearing his throat, “Perhaps you are right. We might want to… watch our conduct more closely after all. We are sorry that we have caused trouble for you, truly. That has never been our intention. We are all very happy that you teach us and grateful that you stand by us despite the commotions we cause. It would be awful if it seemed as though we didn’t appreciate your guidance.” 

Byleth sighed. In the end, he was weak, and they could very well use it. Those kinds of words? He liked hearing them, even if they were a rowdy bunch. No, quite _because_ they were a rowdy bunch. He was the one who taught them, after all.

“Professor, if I may.” It was the first time Dedue spoke up. “We will try our best. Alas, I believe some of us are not so familiar with the art of dance.”

“I am not your teacher for show,” Byleth smiled. “You may not think it but I quite love dancing. I must admit that it helped me adapt to fights much easier. It makes you aware of how your body moves, of thinking steps through. I know you all think it a silly pastime but I do believe it to be helpful in your quest to grow stronger.”

“This goes out to Felix especially, doesn’t it?” Sylvain asked. 

“Perhaps. I would lie to say I haven’t considered this part of the speech to rouse him personally.”

Felix grunted. “You are aware I can hear you, yes?”

“It would be counterproductive if you didn’t,” Byleth replied. “In any case, I was hoping we could practice it together. All of us. I do want us to win the White Heron Cup and wipe that smug grin off my sister’s face-”

“They do have Dorothea,” Sylvain said, “And Ferdinand. He’s a great dancer.”

“You learnt that when exactly?” Felix asked.

Sylvain shrugged. “I’m a noble. He’s a noble. My father made me attend those noble parties that you always skipped.”

“Oh, that is true. We also should not underestimate the Deer’s possible competition,” Dimitri noted. “Claude himself has been to one single event I can remember but he was a rather charming dancer. The same can be said about Lorenz. And while I have not seen Hilda, she does have the posture, at the very least.”

They started discussing without further incentive, bringing it far enough to realize what this was about. 

A competition. 

“We cannot lose this,” Dimitri said, after a good while of assessing who the most logical options for the other houses would be.

“Absolutely not. We need to choose someone who crushes everyone else,” Felix hissed. “If we lose this, we lose face.”

“Never!” Ingrid narrowed her eyes. “There isn’t a competition we cannot win! Let’s make the Professor proud!”

“We can win this if we practice together!” Ashe exclaimed. “I have little experience but I will try my best to help the person the Professor chooses.” 

“Agreed.” Dedue said. “Defeat is not an option.”

“I am glad we’re all on the same page about this!” Annette pumped her fists into the air. “Even if the Professor doesn’t choose me, I will do all I can to make our dancer strong!”

“I think that as long as we all have fun, it will be a great event either way. Although…” Mercedes said, “I would like to win. It would make us all smile.”

“It’s not a battle to life and death but I’d prefer it if we impress rather than embarrass ourselves. So let’s make this good, and the ball after will be a total breeze for all of us. Especially me,” Sylvain laughed. 

Byleth played them all. Himself most of all, but they all fell for the good old competitive vein, just as he had. 

This was going to be fun. 

But most definitely, this was going to be their victory.

**Author's Note:**

> this is really just a random, silly thing i thought of while i was exploring the monastery during ethereal moon - it's so obvious how most blue lions attempt to bribe byleth into letting them off the hook with the exception of flayn and annette who are Thrilled. hence all i could think of was 'ah yes. the jocks. the brickheads. i love them. they would do anything to omit the ball, even cuck their own professor.' 
> 
> except he played them. like a fiddle. no one knows competitive brickheads better than a competitive brickhead.


End file.
